FUGITIVE OF THE WEEK | Karen King

King is wanted by the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office for Kidnapping with Bodily Injury, Aggravated Assault and Aggravated Battery after officials said she was involved in the severe beating of an ex-boyfriend.

The sheriff office got involved in the beating investigation after receiving a call from Cleburne County (Ala.) Police on March 4, when an officer made a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by 22-year-old Melvin Floyd of Atlanta.

The officer thought Floyd was acting suspicious and asked if he could search the car he was driving.

"The driver consented to the search and the officer was actually shocked when he opened the trunk to find a man lying there beaten and bloodied," Lt. Jamie Gianfala said.

The man in the trunk, 44-year-old Lyndon Baines Smith of Alabama, suffered severe fractures to his face and ribs. Lt. Gianfala said the officer who found him probably saved his life.

"Mr. Smith was going to be transported in the trunk to Alabama to an apartment complex and left to fend for himself," he said. "Without medical attention, the way he was beaten, the severity of it, he would have passed."

Alabama officials contacted Cherokee County investigators after they learned the beating may have occurred at a residence in the Bridgemill subdivision in Canton.

Investigators went to a home on Gold Mill Ridge, where they found evidence of the beating and an attempt to clean up the crime scene.

"There were signs of a struggle that took place there," Lt. Gianfala said.

On May 12, Alonte Lyndell Smith, 17 of Canton was arrested in Woodstock, and on June 8, Lyndon Ahlik Smith, 23 of Atlanta was arrested in Miami, Fla. The Smiths are brothers and the biological sons of the victim.

All the suspects are charged with kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated battery. Lt. Gianfala said the beating stemmed from an argument over money.

Investigators say the only suspect who was involved in the beating who is not in custody is Karen King. She is the victim's ex-girlfriend and mother of Alonte Smith.

"She was an active party in the beating itself," Gianfala said. "She participated in the cleaning up of the crime scene and in our eyes is as responsible as the rest of them."